Record number of trumpeter swans migrate to St. Louis area

Record number of trumpeter swans migrate to St. Louis area

ST. LOUIS, MO — A record number of trumpeter swans have migrated to the St. Louis area for the season. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 1,089 of the swans returned to the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary in West Alton. This tops last year’s count of 1,022.

Hunting nearly wiped out the species in the United States. Reintroduction programs took root in the 1980’s. In 1991, five of trumpeters made their way back to the Riverlands. Only in the last decade did trumpeter swan winterly totals at Riverlands climb into the hundreds.